Harry Potter the loved ones return
by muntaha.muskan
Summary: This is my first time writing also I am rubbish at descriptions. so here it is Just after Vooldemort (the great butthead) dies LADY FATE gives harry another shot at living his dream.What better then to give the boy who lived his biggest wish his LOVED ONES
1. The Final battle

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9eaed15e8bdc55a4d7de3de4ab5796e1""Avada Kedavra!""Expelliarmus!"The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames thaterupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had beentreading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry sawVoldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand flyhigh, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceilinglike the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wandin his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slitpupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floorwith a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the whitehands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemortwas dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood withtwo wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy's shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended:and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screamsand the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="de9a1d257eaf679e1975f9e868a46378"Molly came up to Harry muttering things like Thank goodness you're OK!/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="650dea719132519e58a50ec825bcbb35"I'm sorry he muttered/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="71941f05eec0d74ab10ca6d89749931d"He'll be watching over us she said and he let it drop he was too tired to argue but suddenly thee was gasp from Mrs Weaseley as she rushed past him to hug a disoriented all the people who were laying dead in the great hall began to stir and the doors burst open. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0589054873d458f8b1eca82943163080"A broadly smiling Dumbledore andsome very fimiliar looking people walked them were Cedric Dobby Mad-Eye a very worried Hedwig and three people who he had wished to see everyday in the past years they were Sirius Black , James and Lily Potter/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d9a86cd625c5a98dcbfdb188813d44d2"finally the truth of the situation seemed to sink in and he ran./p  
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	2. Reunions

He ran towards the one man he had dearly missed towards his godfather Sirius and took him in a hug that could rival ones of Molly he hugged his parents murmuring a soft "I missed you".Together they walked up to Remus and hugged James and Sirius like his life depended on it. When they let go Tonks asked him if he was OK he just smiled.  
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" asked Remus  
With a jolt he realised he hadn't seen them yet and started looking around and as their eyes met they grinned and broke into a run.  
The whole hall watched in silence as they hugged laughing hysterically well the boys were Hermione was sobbing hugging them in profound that moment the great hall broke into applause and cheers shouting things like "LONG LIVE THE GOLDEN TRIO!" and "They did it!"  
Who are they? asked lily curious  
The are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger his best friends said Tonks  
Remus turned to James and said "They are his Padfoot and Moony,Prongs " James grinned  
When they walked up to them Sirius asked them "So what happened to Moldyshorts"  
Dead the three said together smirking as James and Sirius gaped in disbelief


	3. Memories

''You'll swallow flies guys''Lily giggled. Their mouths snapped shut as they glared at her.

Lets go to the burrow with everyone else said Harry

Where's that asked James

My family home replied Ron

''Harry Ginny wants to talk to you and she promised me she won't hex you for being a noble prat''Hermione said.''She is waiting by the Black Lake'' Ron added

Who's Ginny asked James asked his girlfriend said Remus

About half an hour later Harry and Ginny walked up to them holding hands and smiling broadly

I am gonna show you our memories the three of us decided we would show people after the war and Ginny agrees it would help you know us that said everyone apparated to the burrow, ones the settled down

"For those of you who don't know I grew up with my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon." he said.

"WHAT!" James and Lily shouted shocked.

James rounded on Sirius "And where were you." he demanded.

"In Azkaban." Sirius winced.

"What? Why?" Lily asked as Remus put a hand on Sirius' shoulder in support.

"I was framed for your death's and the deaths of 13 people when it was the traitor. I didn't get a trial." Sirius said resentfully.

"How long?" James demanded.

"12 years Prong's. He escaped in Harry's third year." Remus answered for Sirius.

James and Lily were shocked then they got up and went to hug Sirius.

"Oh Padfoot I'm so sorry. We should have told Dumbledore about the swap." James said thickly.

"S'okay, we didnt know Peter was the traitor." Sirius said back.

"You were sent to Azkaban?" Regulus asked, "Your meant to be the good one out of the two of us, the one that didn't land in prison." he shook his head and fell silent.

When they returned to their seats Harry said, "Lets start then shall we," everyone nodded, "by the way I lived in a cupboard for 10 years."

"WHAT! How could Petunia do that! Especially to a child." Lily shouted while many in the room growled.

"You never told us that!" Molly exclaimed.

"It never came up." Harry defended himself.

"We had to coax it out of him." Ron added.

"So even if you asked he would've denied it." Hermione huffed.

"We will start with my cousin Dudley's birthday." Harry said calmly. He then flicked his wand and the first memory started.

 **"Up! Get up! Now!"**

 **Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

 **"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled on his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"You remembered that Harry?" Minerva asked quietly, looking faintly shocked.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, I just didn't know it was real before."

"What was real?" James asked confused.

"I gave Hagrid my motorbike the night you were killed to get Harry to his Aunt's, I knew I was going to be arrested and that I wouldn't be needing it anymore." Sirius said, "I'm guessing you remember some of the journey Harry?"

Harry nodded, "Bits of the journey."

"Wait what happened?" Regulus asked (he had come back too) and Harry quickly explained what happened the night his parents died. "Oh that's better thank you. I was kind of lost." he admitted, "But I understand now."

 **His aunt was back outside the door.**

 **"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

 **"Nearly," said Harry.**

 **"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I wan't everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"Duddy?" Sirius asked through laughter.

"My cousin Dudley." Harry snickered.

"Wait a minute, they made you cook?" Molly asked.

"Yes, since I tuned 5 they made me cook for them," Harry admitted, "I used to get in trouble if anything got burned and if I burned myself they didn't care."

"I am going to KILL PETUNIA!" Lily shouted.

"Don't bother Mum it's all in the past now and I never have to go back." Harry soothed.

"He's right Lily I'm mad too but there's not much we can do about the past." James said softly.

"We're skipping a little by the way. I just wanted to show you where I slept. We're skipping to my first time to the zoo, they usualy left me with Mrs. Figg when they went out but she broke her leg." Harry added so no-one was confused. "Oh and Dudley's friend Piers was there too."

 **It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursley's bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't that bad, either, Harry thought, licking at it as they watched a gorilla scratching it's head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except it wasn't blonde.**

This set most of the room into laughter especially the Marauders and the twins.

 **Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime wouldn't fall back on thier favourite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

 **Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Uh oh," George started.

"That dosn't sound good." Fred finished.

 **After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.**

 **Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

 **Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

 **"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

 **"Do it again," Dudley ordered.**

"Was Dudley always like that Harry?" Ron asked, Harry nodded, "I feel sorry for you having to put up with him."

 **Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

 **"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

 **Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.**

 **It was worse than having a cupboard for a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up**

"I'm not so sure Harry, it seems pretty even," commented Sirius.

 **\- at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"That's true... but is that really a good thing?" Dora asked.

 **The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were level with Harry's. It winked.**

"I may not know much about snakes, but I'm pretty sure they don't do that," said James.

"No, Prongs, they don't." Remus said, "They don't have eyelids."

"It may have been a magical snake." Ginny pointed out, "Some of them do actually have eyelids."

"I suspect it was." Harry nodded, "Considering it's actions I'm surprised I didn't suspect magic. I didn't even know I was a wizard at that time."

"You weren't told?" Arthur asked curiously.

Harry shook his head, "Not until I first met Hagrid."

 **Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

 **The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."**

 **"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

 **The snake nodded vigorously.**

"Your a Parselmouth?" James asked shocked.

"Yes. I am." was what Harry said, but it came out as a series of hissing.

"There's your proof." Ginny smiled, "Harry you just spoke it."

"Oop's." he said looking away from the memory-snake. "I cant control it, if I see a snake it happens automatically half the time." he explained.

"Kind of creepy. But how are you a Parselmouth? It dosn't run in the family as far as I know." James frowned.

"Some of Voldemort's powers transferred to me when the Killing Curse rebounded." he told them, "One of those powers was Parseltounge." he shrugged.

 **"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

 **The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil. "Was it nice there?"**

 **The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

"Um... Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah Gin?"

"Are you actualy talking to a snake about Brazil?"

"I suppose so." he smirked.

 **As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

 **Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.**

"So it must've been about a day." the twins laughed.

 **"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.**

Everybody growled. Ginny's was the most impressive, even more impressive than Remus's and he was a Werewolf.

 **Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

 **What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

 **Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

"Awesome!" yelled the twins while everyone else laughed.

 **The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out on to the floor - people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

 **As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

Everyone laughed again as Harry said, "We're skipping a bit again until I finally got my Hogwarts letter. Let's just say my Uncle and Aunt tried to out run the letters but Hagrid finally appeared and gave me one. Oh and they gave me my own room after the first one came addressed to 'The cupboard under the stairs'."

 **Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

 **"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**

"Learn to not get what you want, you spoiled child!" said Molly.

"He learned eventually." Harry chuckled, "Last time I heard him whine for something was just before my 15th birthday."

 **Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

 **Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat-hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"How nice. They wouldn't give their own kid that crap, so why Harry?" asked James.

"Because they didn't like me and the feeling was mutual." Harry shrugged.

 **Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

 **Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.**

"That's not good." Draco commented, thinking about how his father used to smile like that and shuddering.(Draco had helped the DA staying undercover)

 **He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

"I wonder what it is." Fluer said.

 **"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out to sea.**

 **Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine.**

 **One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

 **"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

"Nutter. It'll be freezing in that shack!" Andy said outraged.

"Yeah. And it still won't stop the letters. Minnie always knows!" James announced making Minerva smile slightly.

 **A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowing boat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**

 **"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

 **It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces.**

They all shivered. Sirius harder than everyone else as this reminded him of Azkaban.

 **After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

 **The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls and the fire-place was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

 **Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a packet of crisps each and four bananas.**

"Some rations. You'd think a fat man would bring more food!" Lily said.

 **He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp packets just smoked and shrivelled up.**

 **"Could do with some of those letters now eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Git." James said.

 **He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver post.**

"Wrong." sang the Marauders.

 **Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

 **As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows.**

 **Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa.**

 **She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could find and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

"That damn woman!" James cursed.

"I hate her." Lily said decisively.

 **The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.**

 **Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight.**

 **The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all,**

"Probably not." Hermione said sadly.

 **wondering where the letter-writer was now.**

 **Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although it might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

 **Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that and (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea? One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty seconds... ten - nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him**

"You know that would be funny. But you'd probably get in trouble for it mate." Ron commented getting a nod from Harry.

"I didn't need to anyway. Watch what happens." he grinned.

 **three - two - one - BOOM.**

 **The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Don't worry it's Hagrid." Harry reassured everyone as they suddenly looked worried.

 **BOOM!**

"He's quite loud isn't he?" Bill asked when Ginny, Harry and Remus winced at the loud noise, with thier sensitive hearing it was louder.

"Of course he is Bill." Charlie said, "You guys okay?" he added to the three that winced. They nodded.

 **They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

 **"Where's the canon?" he said stupidly.**

"I feel sorry for you Harry," Percy said sympathetically, "having to grow up with that idiot."

 **There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands.**

"He had a GUN! In a house with two young children," Minerva said outraged, "he's an imbicele. What if the boys had found it!?"

All the women nodded, Harry just smiled at the over-protective women around him but wisely said nothing.

 **Now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

 **"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

 **There was a pause. Then - SMASH!**

 **The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. A giant of a man was standing in the doorway.**

 **His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

 **"Couldn't make a cup o' tea could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

 **He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

"Or maybe he really froze." said James hopefully getting appreciative chuckles from many in the room.

 **"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

They all snickered.

"Hagrid's just met Dudley and he already doesn't like him." said Lily cheerfully.

 **Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother,**

"Like he'd fit there," snorted the twins.

 **who was crouching, terrified behind Uncle Vernon.**

"Oh, that'd probably work better." James and Sirius said together.

 **"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

"You know that was kinda odd," Harry commented, "I didn't know who he was but he knew me. I'm a little used to it now what with the fame but it's still uncomfortable when people stare at my scar." he explained to everyone who was confused.

 **Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

 **"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."**

 **Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

 **"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

 **"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant.**

"GO HAGRID!" shouted the twins and Marauders.

 **He reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Serves you right," Andy said. "stupid man."

 **Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

 **"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point,"**

They all laughed.

 **"but it'll taste all right."**

 **From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

 **Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth,**

"Hagrid has that effect on people." Sirius mused.

"Yeah I was shocked the first time I saw him." Regulus added.

 **and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Hagrid really should have introduced himself before you had to ask Harry." Minerva said(she had come with them). Harry shrugged.

"He hadn't seen me since I was a year old." he said in his oldest friend's defence.

 **The giant chuckled.**

 **"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

 **He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"I remember when he did that to me," James muttered, "my arm went numb."

 **"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

They laughed at that.

 **His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled crisp packets in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire.**

"But Hagrid wasn't allowed to use magic away from Hogwarts." Minerva said shocked.

"He was allowed to use it to get to me." Harry explained.

 **It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warm rush over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

 **The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy packet of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs and a bottle of some amber liquid which he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

"Hagrid!" Lily said shocked, the other women looked shocked as well while the men grinned.

 **Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage.**

 **Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little.**

 **Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Dudley wouldn't listen." Fred said remembering the incident with the ton-tongue toffee.

 **The giant chuckled darkly. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' any more, Dursley, don' worry."**

"Got that right." George snickered.

 **He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry, he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant.**

"He is somewhat of an odd sight, isn't he?" Bill asked getting nod's from most in the room.

 **Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

 **"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

Harry shook his head, "Nope the Dursley's never told me anything."

Minerva looked shocked, "I told Albus not to leave you with them," she said frowning, "Is this how you found out about magic?" Harry nodded.

"Yeah Hagrid had to tell me everything even my own story." he admitted.

"If I had known that I would have come for you myself." she said, "Hagrid's not the best at explaining."

 **"Er - no," said Harry.**

 **Hagrid looked shocked. "Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"It's them that should be sorry, Harry!" said Ginny firmly.

 **"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them tha' should be sorry!"**

Everyone nodded firmly.

 **"I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it all?"**

 **"All what?" asked Harry.**

"Oh, I can't listen to this," said James dramatically.

 **"ALL WHAT?"**

Remus, Harry and Ginny rubbed their ears.

 **Hagrid thundered.**

 **"Now wait jus' one second!"**

 **He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

Everyone, except Harry and Minerva as they had both seen Hagrid like this at close range before, looked shocked.

"That's quite scary." Hermione said with wide eyes.

 **"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy - this boy - knows nothing abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

 **Harry thought this was going a bit far.**

 **He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

 **"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff."**

 **But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

 **"What world?"**

 **Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

"Guys cover your ears." Harry said covering his own knowing what was coming next.

 **"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

This time Teddy, who had been fast asleep through the rest of the noise, woke up and started crying until Harry went over to him and started making coloured hoops come out of his wand making his parents stare at him in shock.

"Harry?" James questioned hesitantly.

"Yeah Dad?"

"Do you know that I was doing that for you the night we were attacked by Voldemort?"

"Yeah Dad I can remember that night." Harry said softly. His parents looked at him sadly as everyone else looked shocked and confused. "Dementors." Harry added as an explanation clearing up the confusion. Sirius looked guilty and Remus looked understanding. "It wasn't your fault Sirius, you never told the dementors to guard the school when you escaped." he said so only Sirius could hear him. Sirius still looked guilty but nodded.

 **Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like 'Mimblewimble'**

"Wasn't that the password to Gryffindor tower in our sixth year?" Lily asked Remus.

"Yes it was." he replied looking amused.

 **Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

 **"What? My - my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

 **"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. "Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

"Nope." Harry said cheerfully, "I do now though." he added.

 **Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

 **"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"Yeah, like that'll stop him." Minerva chuckled.

 **A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

 **"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him?"**

"What letter?" Remus asked.

"Albus left a letter with Harry explaining what had happened." Minerva explained.

 **"I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

 **"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

 **"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

 **Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

 **"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yer a wizard."**

"That was a shock." Harry laughed.

"I imagine it was," Hermione said, "I was shocked when Minerva told me." she smiled at the older witch who smiled back.

 **There was a silence inside the hut.**

 **Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. "I'm a what?"**

"A wizard," said James happily. Harry rolled his eyes.

 **"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin good'un I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

 **Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea.**

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

 **Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**

 **(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc Chr. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

 **Dear Mr. Potter,**

 **We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.**

 **Yours sincerely,**

 **Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress**

 **Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks**

"Imagine that. Fireworks in someone's head!" said the twins with distant and dangerous looks on thier face's making Molly groan.

 **and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That's the question you chose?" asked Sirius disbelievingly. "Of all the stuff you could have asked... you ask about owls?" Harry shrugged.

 **"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled out an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

"Ah, so thats why Anon was in a huff all week." Minerva said making everyone snicker.

 **a long quill and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note which Harry could read upside down**

"I can barely read his writing the right way around." James commented, looking impressed.

 **Dear Professor Dumbledore**

 **Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**

 **Hagrid.**

 **Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door and threw the owl out into the storm.**

 **Then he came back and sat down as though this was normal as talking on the telephone.**

"No," said Sirius. "It's more normal than that."

"Not to Muggles Sirius." Harry pointed out. Sirius shrugged.

 **Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

 **"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

 **"He's not going," he said.**

 **Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"You tell them Hagrid!" the twins shouted very loudly, making Harry, Ginny and Remus wince. "Sorry." they said to the three looking guilty.

"We forgot about your sensitive hearing." Fred added, Ginny growled at her big brother.

 **"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

 **"A Muggle," said Hagrid. "It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"Too right," Remus muttered. "I would have taken you in but the Ministry would never allow it because of my condition." he explained.

"It's alright Remus I understand." Harry told him. Remus nodded.

 **"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard, indeed!"**

"'Rubbish?' That's not rubbish!" yelled Lily indignantly. "You should've seen Petunia when I found out I was a witch! She was dying to be one too!"

 **"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?"**

"Of course she did! Her sister was one!" James said

 **"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?"**

"Hey!" said both Lily and James.

 **"Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats."**

"She remembered that?" Lily said shocked.

"You did magic out of school?" James asked.

"Yeah. They allowed me to show my family how it works, show I'm not wasting my time and that it's not all a giant scam or anything."

"Seems fair," said Remus.

"I also turned all her clothes pink. Suited her. But she was mad!" Lily laughed. Everyone was shocked that she'd do something like that. "Don't give me that look! Judging by how she has treated my son, she deserves a lot worse! Besides, I changed them back to normal! Well... most of them." She grinned evilly.

 **"I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!"**

"She started calling me that when I was leaving for Hogwarts for the first time." Lily said as the Marauders growled.

 **"But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

 **She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed like she had been wanting to say all this for years. "Then she met that Potter at school"**

"'That Potter' am I?" James said furiously.

 **"and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be the same, just as strange, just as - as abnormal"**

"You're the damn abnormal ones! You're the freaks!" James said with venom in his voice.

"Prongs." Remus said warningly, Teddy still fast asleep on his knee, as Sirius said, "Calm down, Prongs."

 **"- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up"**

"She thinks we wanted that." Lily said sadly.

 **"and we got landed with you!"**

 **Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"NO WE DID NOT!" James and Lily bellowed at the same time.

 **"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid,**

 **jumping so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter?"**

"Exactly! It couldn't!" Lily said.

 **"It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

 **"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

They all sighed, upset that 11 year old Harry didn't know the truth.

 **The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. "I never expected this," he said in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin."**

 **He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

 **"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

 **He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

"Voldemort." everyone said.

 **"Who?"**

 **"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

 **"Why not?"**

 **"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad."**

"Understatement of the century, but go on." said Harry making everyone chuckle.

 **"As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

 **Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

 **"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

 **"Nah - can't spell it."**

They allowed themselves to laugh a bit at that.

 **"All right - Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... Terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of."**

"Yeah, that was true." Ron said, "But I think he was afraid of Harry as well."

"Yeah, but only because he saw me as a threat and a massive thorn in his side." Harry said.

 **"Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew."**

James and Lily smiled, but it wasnt their normal smile's. It was much sadder.

 **"Head Boy an' Girl at Hogwarts in their day. Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before..."**

"He did when we were in sixth year. We refused." James said. "Thats why he tried so hard to kill us."

 **"probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

 **Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with the sound of a foghorn. "Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find"**

James and Lily smiled sadly again.

 **"anyway - You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided to kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts"**

"They were my little brothers," Molly said sadly, "Fabian and Gideon Prewett. They were troublemakers just like Fred and George." the twins looked at each other then got up, crossed the room and hugged thier mother.

"So we live up to our middle names?" Fred inquired as he and George sat down again.

"More than double." Arthur nodded, "Your uncles were two of the most fun loving people you could ever meet. But you two have always been twice as bad."

"They didnt pull pranks or anything but they always found something to joke about, even if it was bad news they could always cheer everyone up." Molly smiled.

"And keep everyone amused when things got boring." James grinned, "Fabian used to play the Guitar with Frank Longbottom at Order meetings, Gideon would play the flute."

"And you and Sirius would jump about like idiots with the kids." Remus smirked.

"We got you to do it too sometimes." Sirius pointed out. "Mainly when it was close to the full moon and your inner troublemaker wanted to be free."

"True enough." Remus shrugged, "It wasnt just you two trying to get me to take part though." he added before looking at Harry, "You were very insistent that I didn't sit down at all when the music was on." he mock-huffed.

Harry grinned, "You must've been lazy then." he teased.

 **"- an' you was only a baby an' you lived."**

 **Something very painful was going on inside Harry's mind.**

 **As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life - a high, cold, cruel, laugh.**

"That's Voldemort Isn't it Harry?" Bill asked, Harry nodded and gave a small smile but his eyes were slightly haunted.

 **Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

 **"Took yer from the ruined House myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

 **"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon.**

 **Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

 **"Now you listen here, boy," he snarled. "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured"**

"They didn't touch me!" Harry said loudly as everyone made noises of rage, that seemed to calm them down, but only just.

 **"and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion asked for all they got, getting mixed up with all these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end - "**

 **But at that moment, Hagrid leapt up from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat.**

 **Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley - I'm warning you - one more word..."**

 **In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"Spear him on the umbrella!" the Weasley boys and the Marauders shouted.

 **"That's better," said Hagrid breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

 **Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

 **"But what happened to Vol - sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

 **"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go? Some say he died."**

"Did he?" Lily asked.

"Nope." Sirius said popping the 'p'.

 **"Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who were on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

 **Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

 **A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard?**

"They used that as a punishment." Harry explained, "For the incident at the zoo I was locked in the cupboard for a week with no meals."

"Did they do that often?" Molly asked making Harry nod, "Oh, no wonder you were always so skinny when you came to us during the summer."

"They didn't after I knew the truth, I got my own room and they stopped using the cupboard threat completely." he shrugged.

"And started locking you in your room instead." Ron muttered.

 **If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

 **"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

 **To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. "Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you were scared or angry?"**

 **Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach...**

"I ended up on the school roof." Harry explained.

"You apperated?" Charlie asked shocked, Harry shrugged.

"It didn't feel like it." he said, "I think it was just some kind of accidental magic." everyone nodded, thinking that was probably true.

 **dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back...**

"Well, no one can beat the Potter hair." James mused while Harry nodded grinning.

 **And the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

 **Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him. "See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

 **But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight. "Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

 **"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled -"**

"Guys cover your ears again." Harry warned covering his own.

 **"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

 **But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head.**

 **"NEVER -" he thundered, "- INSULT - ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN - FRONT - OF - ME!"**

 **He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley.**

 **There was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain.**

 **When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

Everyone burst out laughing even Minerva, who was trying to look disapproving, smiled. When at last they sobered up, which took at least 20 minutes, the memory continued.

 **Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

 **Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

 **"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig"**

Renewed laughter filled the room, but more controlled this time.

 **"but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

 **He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

 **"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job -"**

 **"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

 **"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

 **"Why were you expelled?"**

 **"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

 **He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. "You can kip under that," he said. "Don't' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"Ew!" said Lily as most of the women wrinkled their noses.

"I think we should have a break." Harry suggested.

"Good idea dear, we can have a spot of lunch." Molly said. Everyone nodded and went into the kitchen for lunch"


	4. Meeting the best friends

Once everyone was seated in the living room again (Teddy in a magical playpen that alerted someone when something was wrong) Harry went over to the pensive and added the next few memories.

"We will start with the first time I went to Diagon Alley." he said.

 **Harry woke early the next morning.**

 **Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. It was a dream, he told himself firmly. I dreamt a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards.**

"It is kind of hard to believe magic exists when you first find out about it." Lily said, Hermione nodded her agreement.

 **When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard.**

"Damn Dursleys," muttered James.

 **There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

 **And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still hadn't opened his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

 **Tap. Tap. Tap.**

 **"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

 **He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him.**

 **The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa**

"So it collapsed," Sirius said cheerfully.

 **and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him.**

 **He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered to the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

 **"Don't do that."**

"I didn't know it wanted money." Harry said defensively when everyone looked at him amused.

 **Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

 **"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl -"**

 **"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

 **"What?"**

 **"He wants payin fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

"You will never find it." the twins groaned, "Hagrid has tons of pockets."

 **Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets**

"See?" George said.

 **\- bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, mint humbugs, teabags... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

"You found it. Good for you." said Fred.

 **"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

 **Knuts.**

"How are you supposed to know what Knuts are?" asked James.

 **"The little bronze ones."**

"That's better," said James.

 **Harry counted five little bronze coins and the owl held out its leg so he could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then it flew out through the open window.**

 **Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up and stretched. "Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

 **Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something which made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

 **"Um - Hagrid?"**

 **"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

 **"I haven't got any money -"**

"Don't insult us, Harry," said James. "We left you some."

"The Potter's are the richest family in magical Britain." Sirius said pointedly.

"Yup. The seccond richest are the Black's." Regulus added

"Then there's the Malfoy's," Sirius made a face as he said it, "The Zabini's, the Lestranges are pretty well off as well. There's also the Crouch's then the Dumbledore's. That's about it. My damned Mother made Reg and I learn all about The Ancient most Noble house of Black and other great wizarding families." he explained.

 **"- and you heard Uncle Vernon last night - he won't pay for me to go to learn magic."**

"Of course not. He's a big fat git!" Draco said.

 **"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'ye think year parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

"Even if we didn't - which we did - Hogwarts lends money," said Lily.

 **"But if their house was destroyed -"**

"What crazy people would keep money in their home?" asked Sirius.

"Some Muggles do that." Hermione pointed out, "Although most use their bank's."

 **"They didn't keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold"**

"Way to change the topic." Sirius snorted.

 **"an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

 **"Wizards have banks?"**

 **"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

 **Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

 **"Goblins?"**

 **"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that."**

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged looks and quickly looked down to hide their smiles.

 **"Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you - gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

 **Harry followed Hagrid out on to the rock.**

 **The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

 **"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

 **"Flew," said Hagrid.**

 **"Flew?"**

 **"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh"**

 **They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

"It is difficult to believe he flew." Dora said.

"He had one of the Thestral pulled carriages." Minerva smiled, "The Thestrals returned when they dropped him off."

 **"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

 **"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat and they sped off towards land.**

 **"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

This time Harry avoided eye contact with Hermione and Ron, for fear of bursting out laughing.

 **"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there are dragons guardin' the high security vaults."**

"There are," said James. "I saw them on the way to the Potter family vault."

 **"And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"Skipping to when I was getting my robes." Harry said with a glance at Draco. "Please don't hex Draco he's a prat through all our school days and is very sorry for that aren't you?" Draco nodded. "Oh and Hagrid emptied a vault with a small mysterious package." here he winked at Minerva when no-one was looking she had a look of understanding in her eyes.

 **"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? Hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

 **Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

 **"Hogwarts dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

 **In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.**

"Thats you then?" James asked Draco. He nodded.

 **Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length.**

 **"Hullo," said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"**

 **"Yes," said Harry.**

 **"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice.**

 **"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

 **Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

 **"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on. "No," said Harry. "Play Quidditch at all?" "No," said Harry again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"Do you like it now?" James asked exitedly.

"Wait and see." Harry replied mysteriously, "No one say anything, please." James pouted while Sirius snickered. "I will tell you I love flying though." James cheered up a bit.

 **"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

 **"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"Sorry I didn't realise you actually didn't know what I was talking about." Draco apologised. "And I didn't know who you were either."

 **"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been -"**

"So was all of my family, but I'm a Gryffindor, and damn proud of it!" Sirius declared.

 **"imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"**

 **"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

 **"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding towards the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice-creams to show he couldn't come in.**

 **"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

 **"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

 **"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking this boy less and less every second.**

 **"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage"**

"He is not!" everyone cried.

"Sorry. I know he's not now, I had only heard my father's stories before Hogwarts." Draco said getting an understanding look from Sirius.

"Yeah, I was like that in first year I only had my parents stories but I was willing to bet that not all of them were true." Sirius explained, "Like all werewolves were totally evil, but Remus isn't so I stopped listening to my parents stories."

 **"lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk,"**

"Hagrid really needs to stop drinking as much." Minerva said, "It sets a bad example for the students."

"Maybe but it's fun if your with him when he's drunk, even better if your drunk too." James smirked at Sirius.

"Don't even think about it." Sirius growled.

"But Paddy, it's not our fault you ended up dancing about the grounds in your undies instead of going back to the castle after having a drink with Hagrid." Remus said innocently, "Or our fault you woke up on Hagrid's roof." he added.

Sirius groaned as the others laughed.

"When was that?" Dora asked curiously.

"Their 7th year." Minerva supplied, "Gave the staff a few laughs that story." she chuckled.

"You knew about it?" Lily asked.

"I did. Hagrid told me accidentally." she nodded.

"How come we didn't get in trouble then?" James asked.

"You were all 17, all adults, I couldn't exactly stop you. Plus Remus and Sirius suffered with the hangovers the next day anyway." she mused. "I am curious as to how you never had one James."

"I wasn't drinking." he shrugged, "Well I had a few firewhiskeys but I didn't drink too much."

"You decided to be boring." Sirius snorted.

"Better than waking up on Hagrid's roof in my boxers." he smirked, "And I had to patrol the halls the next night."

"And I wouldn't have been at all happy if you were hungover." Lily smiled, "It would've been bad for you."

"I'm aware. You were very irritated with me for letting those two get smashed anyway." he muttered.

"Still glad you got the pictures though." she shrugged.

"What pictures?" Remus frowned.

"Oh I had a camera with me so I decided to take a few of you two being idiots." James shrugged, "Like Paddy hugging a tree thinking it was Peter or you attempting to climb the rocks in the clearing not too far in to the forest."

Sirius and Remus shared looks while everyone else laughed.

"Fine, if that's the way it is we'll just not tell you about the one's we've got of you on your stag night." Sirius smirked.

James looked alarmed, "You what!"

"Nothing Prongs." Remus smiled evilly, "Just a little payback for doing it to us."

James groaned.

"Let's continue before these three start arguing." Lily suggested, the Maruaders fell silent and they all turned back to the memory.

 **"tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"He actually did do that once." Minerva chuckled. "it was an accident though."

 **"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"Atta boy, Harry!" Bill and Charlie cheered.

 **"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

"You don't know who you're talking to do you?" asked Sirius. Draco shook his head.

 **"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

 **"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

 **"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

"Nice answer." James grinned. Harry grinned back.

 **"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

 **Before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

 **"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

"Unfortunately." said Ron in an undertone to Harry who snorted.

 **"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

 **"Nothing," Harry lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote.**

 **When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

 **"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

"That made me feel worse." Harry commented.

 **"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's. "and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in -"**

 **"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin yer name if his parents were wizardin' folk - you saw 'em in the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look at what she had fer a sister!"**

"Exactly!" James said.

 **"So what is Quidditch?"**

"Only the best sport in the world!" all the quidditch fans said (except Harry who didn't want to give anything away to his Dad's earlier question).

 **"It's our sport, wizard sport. It's like - like football in the Muggle world -"**

"Football?" the twins asked.

"Like Hagrid said, it's like Quidditch, but played on the ground with only one ball, using your feet to kick it around. And no bats." Lily explained.

"But what's fun about that?" asked Ron, genuinely confused.

"It is quite fun." Regulus commented, "Sirius and I used to sneak out from time to time and there were these muggle boys who taught us how to play it." he added at the confused looks, "It would be better if you could fly though." he shrugged.

 **"everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"That's not even close to the full rules." James groaned.

 **"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

 **"School houses. There are four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"**

"Hufflepuffs aren't that bad!" Dora said, "I was a Hufflepuff and so was my Dad."

 **"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.**

 **"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

 **"Vol - sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"Unfortunately." Minerva sighed, "I was at school with him, just few years up from him." she explained getting shocked looks from everyone else in the room. "So was Hagrid, he was in his 3rd year when Voldemort was in 5th. I was in 7th by that time." she added.

 **"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

 **They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these.**

 **Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Counter-Curses (Bewitch your Friends and Befuddle your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more)**

"AWESOME!" James and Sirius cried simultaneously.

 **by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

 **"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"Good idea!" Sirius exclaimed.

 **"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

"Unfortunately he has a point." Remus sighed.

 **Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of brass scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the apothecary's, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages.**

 **Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor, jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powders lined the walls, bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery black beetle eyes (five knuts a scoop).**

 **Outside the apothecary's, Hagrid checked Harry's list again. "Just yer wand left - oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

James and Lily grinned.

 **Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to -"**

 **"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer an animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at"**

"Well, thank God I didn't buy a toad like Mum wanted me to!" said Dora.

"You would probably lose it anyway." Andy said, "Either that or it would get squashed with your clumsyness." Dora went pink as a few of the others chuckled.

 **"- an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer post an' everythin"**

"So it was Hagrid that got you Hedwig?" Ginny asked Harry who nodded, smiling

 **Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage which held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell**

"Snowy owls are the best." Cissy said making most people nod.

 **"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

"Definitely!" agreed James.

 **A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

"Took me ages to find my wand." James complained.

"Me too." Sirius muttered.

"I got mine first try." said Lily smugly.

"Mine took me three. 'Course I nearly brought the place down with the first one, so it took a while." added Dora.

"We almost did that too." George told her pointing to himself and Fred.

"I emptied a full shelf of boxes." Ginny added.

"Mine wasn't that bad." Remus said, laughing a bit. "Though I did make a vase explode."

 **The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

 **A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty for a single spindly chair which Hagrid sat on to wait.**

"Didn't it break?" Sirius asked.

 **Harry felt strangely as though he'd entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions which had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"That will be the amount of power that's in the shop." James said wisley.

 **"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

They all chuckled.

"There it is." said Sirius.

 **An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

 **"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

 **"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand."**

"Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow," said Lily immediately.

 **"Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

Lily grinned.

 **Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

"Definitely." James agreed while others made noises of agreement or nodded.

 **"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand."**

"Eleven inches, pliable, better for Transfiguration," grinned James.

 **"Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

They all shuddered.

 **"And that's where..."**

"Yeah, it's perfectly fine to poke my head." Harry said sarcastically.

 **Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. "I'm sorry to say that I sold the wand that did it," he said softly.**

"Voldemort's?" Bill asked.

"Of course, who else would have made his wand?" Minerva said.

"Could've been Gregorovich." said Lily.

"Nah, he wouldn't have gone abroad to get a wand, and Olli is the best in Britain." replied James.

"It was Gregorovich who made my wand." Fluer said.

"I heard Voldemort was an orphan, and was really poor." said Dora.

"Really?" asked the twins.

"It's true." Harry said. "He was born and grew up in an orphanage after his mother died shortly after his birth and his father didn't care about him... There's more but it's better you find out through time."

 **"Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out in the world to do..."**

"He wouldn't have sold it." Percy said sadly.

 **He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

 **"Rubeus, Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

 **"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

 **"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

 **"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

 **"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

They all grinned.

 **"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

 **"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see."**

 **He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

 **"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

 **"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.**

 **As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns or dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

"Really?" Lily said surprised "He never told me that."

 **Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

 **"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."**

 **Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish)**

"I remember, I felt stupid when I did that." Lily said happily.

 **waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander took it out of his hand almost at once.**

 **"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -"**

"Phoenix feather is the best." said James.

"They're all good." Lily said.

 **Harry tried - but he had hardly raised it when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

"It was annoying when he did that," said Dora.

 **"No, no - here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

 **Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

 **"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

 **Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers.**

"That's the one!" Lily squealed happily.

 **He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on the walls.**

Sirius and James whooped, "Yeah! Gryffindor!" they cried together.

 **Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."**

"What's curious?" Dora asked.

 **He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..."**

 **"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

 **Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand."**

"How?" Sirius asked confused, everyone shrugged.

"Maybe he uses magic?" Lily guessed.

 **"It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar."**

There was shocked silence.

"Voldemort has the brother wand?" Sirius asked finally, "Does that make a difference?" they all shrugged, except Harry, who nodded.

"It made a huge difference. You see, because the wands recognize each other due to having the same pheonixes feathers, it meant they wouldn't kill the others owner. It provided another form of protection for me. As long as Voldemort used that wand and I used mine, he couldn't use it to kill me." Harry explained.

 **Harry swallowed.**

 **"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."**

 **Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

 **The late-afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawping at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the sleeping snowy owl on Harry's lap.**

 **Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder. "Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

 **He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them.**

 **Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

 **"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

 **Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

 **"Everyone thinks I'm special,"**

"You are Harry!" Hermione and Ron said together, as Harry rolled his eyes at them.

 **he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol - sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

"You must have felt awful." Cissy said sympathetically, Harry nodded.

"I wouldn't be happy either," Lily said sadly "I'd rather have my parents and no fame." James pulled her into a hug.

 **Hagrid leant across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

 **"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts,"**

"Exactly!" Hermione and Lily said together, then smiled at each other.

 **"you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."**

 **Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys,**

"Shame you had to go back." Regulus said making Harry nod.

 **then handed him an envelope.**

 **"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yer soon, Harry."**

 **The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"Were skipping to September first." Harry announced. "Also we will see how I met the Weasley family." he added smiling at the mentioned family. "The Dursley's dropped me off at the station, but I didn't know how to get onto the platform, Hagrid forgot to tell me." he explained.

 **He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters.**

"Least you have that much sense." Minerva said.

 **The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose.**

 **Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o' clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time-wasters.**

 **Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money and a large owl. Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get his wand and start tapping the ticket box between platforms nine and ten.**

"No! Don't!" they all said quickly making Harry roll his eyes.

 **At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. "packed with Muggles, of course -"**

 **Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair.**

Fred, George, Percy and Ron smiled.

 **Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him - and they had an owl.**

 **Heart hammering, Harry pushed his trolley after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

 **"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

"It never changes. Why'd you ask?" Bill asked his Mother who shrugged.

 **"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand. "Mum, can't I go..."**

"Awww, that's cute!" Lily cooed, while Ginny glared at Harry who cringed.

 **"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

 **What looked like the oldest boy marched towards the platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the divide between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him, and by the time the last rucksack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

 **"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

 **"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"**

 **"Sorry, George, dear."**

 **"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went.**

Everyone burst out laughing.

"That was always your favourite joke." Molly commented, "I could never tell which of you I was talking to or shouting at."

"And we're working on a way to be able to do it again." Fred smirked.

"Yup." George nodded, "And we need to find a way to do it without chopping Fred's ear off." he added.

"I'm good with it if we do it." Fred shrugged, "We could be the holey twins." he grinned.

"I refuse to let you chop your ear off." George said stubbornly, "One of us that has trouble hearing on one side is enough."

"Does it cause you problems?" Regulus frowned.

"Sometimes, I can still hear out of it but not too well." he shrugged, "It's like having water in your ears, more a murmer than anything else. I can still hear perfectly well on the other side."

"How'd it happen? If your allowed to tell us." James added.

"A Sectumsempra caught it." Harry supplied, "There's more but that's all your getting told right now." he smiled at their annoyed looks.

 **His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?**

 **Now the third brother was walking briskly towards the ticket barrier - he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. There was nothing else for it.**

"Ask her!" shouted the Marauders.

 **"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.**

 **"Hullo, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

 **She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet and a long nose.**

"Not a very flattering description." Ron pointed out.

 **"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to -"**

 **"How to get on to the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.**

"Thank you for helping me Mrs. Weasley." Harry said.

"It was no trouble at all dear." she replied smiling.

 **"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

 **"Er - OK," said Harry. He pushed his trolley round and stared at the barrier.**

 **It looked very solid.**

 **He started to walk towards it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten.**

 **Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that ticket box and then he'd be in trouble leaning forward on his trolley he broke into a heavy run the barrier was coming nearer and nearer he wouldn't be able to stop - the trolley was out of control he was a foot away - he closed his eyes ready for the crash It didn't come... he kept on running... he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people.**

 **A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. He had done it.**

 **Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs, owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

 **The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his trolley off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

 **"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.**

"Is that Neville Longbottom?" Lily asked. Harry nodded.

 **A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.**

"Must be our friend, Lee Jordan." grinned the twins.

 **"Give us a look, Lee, go on."**

 **The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

Ron shivered.

 **Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk towards the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

"Ouch," Dora winced. "I did that. A lot." she added sheepishly. They all laughed, except Remus.

"Come on it's hard doing it on your own." Dora smiled gratefully at her husband.

 **"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the ticket box.**

 **"Yes, please," Harry panted.**

 **"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"**

 **With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

 **"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

 **"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

 **"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you -?"**

 **"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

 **"What?" said Harry.**

 **"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.**

 **"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."**

They all started laughing.

 **The two boys gawped at him and Harry felt himself going red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating through the train's open door.**

"Sorry Harry." the twins said.

"We didn't realize we were doing it." Fred added.

Harry shrugged. "It's fine. Hagrid already told me most kids grew up knowing my name and my story, it was just odd to have people know who I was because of a scar on my forehead. It was practically a name tag." he explained. "Still is actually."

 **"Fred? George? Are you there?"**

 **"Coming, Mum."**

 **With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

 **Harry sat down next to the window where, half-hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.**

 **Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.**

 **"Ron, you've got something on your nose."**

 **"Mum - geroff." He wriggled free.**

They laughed.

 **"Aaah has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

 **"Shut up," said Ron.**

 **"Where's Percy?" said their mother.**

 **"He's coming now."**

 **The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes**

"Sounds like a prefect." Sirius commented wrinkling his nose.

"What's wrong with prefects?" Remus and Lily demanded. "Both of us were prefects!" Lily added.

"You two? Nothing, but some prefects are just..." he made a face.

"I was a prefect." Percy said, "And I was a bit of a prat about it." he admitted sheepishly.

"We were prefect's too." Hermione said pointing at herself then Ron and Draco.

"Yeah and I was a bigger prat about it than you Percy." Draco said, blushing. Harry, Ginny, Fred, George, Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement.

 **and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.**

 **"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the Prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"**

 **"Oh, are you a Prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

 **"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"**

 **"Or twice -"**

 **"A minute -"**

 **"All summer -"**

They all burst out laughing.

 **"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

They laughed some more.

 **"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

 **"Because he's a Prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there."**

 **She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.**

"Urgh. I hated it when Mum turned to me and Sirius." shuddered James.

"Treated you both like proper sons, then, if she told Sirius off." said Lily.

"Yeah, but I got away with more." said Sirius smirking.

"Yeah, that wasn't fair. Mum seemed to think it was me causing trouble and Sirius just helped." James muttered.

 **"Now you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"**

"Man, it was fun when we did that." James said reminiscently.

"That was back in third year, right?" asked Sirius.

"Yup." answered Remus.

 **"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

"Bet you will now she's mentioned it," Sirius said to the twins, "Bit of advice Molly. Never give pranksters ideas." Molly nodded.

"I had figured that out eventually." she admitted.

 **"Great idea though, thanks, Mum."**

 **"It's not funny. And look after Ron."**

 **"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

Ron glared at the twins while everyone else laughed.

 **"Shut up," said Ron again.**

 **He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

 **"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"**

"Sure, tell everyone." Remus muttered.

 **Harry leant back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.**

 **"You know the black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"**

 **"Who?"**

 **"Harry Potter!"**

 **Harry heard the little girl's voice.**

 **"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please..."**

"I think someone has a crush!" Sirius said as Ginny went bright red and glared at Harry.

"Sorry Gin. I forgot that was in there." he said weakly before going to hide behind his parents making everyone laugh again.

 **"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

 **"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."**

 **"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone. I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get on to the platform."**

 **"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

 **Their mother suddenly became very stern. "I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

 **A whistle sounded.**

 **"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered on to the train. They leant out of the window for her to kiss them goodbye and their youngest sister began to cry.**

 **"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."**

 **"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."**

James and Sirius laughed.

"That cheered me up a little bit." Ginny admitted smiling at her big brothers

 **"George!"**

 **"Only joking, Mum."**

 **The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed; then she fell back and waved.**

 **Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know where he was going to - but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.**

 **The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest red-headed boy came in.**

 **"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."**

 **Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

 **"Hey, Ron." The twins were back** **"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

Ron shuddered again.

 **"Right," mumbled Ron.**

 **"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."**

 **"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

 **"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.**

"Nice." Sirius snorted "Very polite."

"Sorry mate." Ron said sheepishly to Harry who nodded his head.

 **Harry nodded.**

 **"Oh - well, I thought it might have been one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."**

 **He pointed at Harry's forehead.**

 **Harry pulled back his fringe to show the lightning scar. Ron stared.**

 **"So that's where You-Know-Who -?"**

 **"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."**

 **"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

"I told you not to ask," Molly scolded.

"You only told the twins not to ask." Ron defended himself making everyone chuckle.

 **"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

"That's still way too much." James said quietly.

Harry shrugged thinking they won't like his third year too much.

 **"Wow," said Ron.**

 **He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

 **"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

"This'll be interesting; you'll both want to know about each other's lives." said Remus making Ron and the Harry nod.

 **"Er - yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

"Because the man is horrible." Molly scowled, "He's a wizard though." she added, "Horrible man Artemius was, when Bill was born he suggested that Arthur and I were too young to have and we should just let him drown him." she spat.

"He got hexed and disowned for that." Arthur said, "We dont have to worry about him anymore Molly." he soothed.

"We should track him down so I can show him all the horrid curses I know." Bill growled. "Or drag him to Egypt and trap him in a pyramid."

"Artemius Prewett?" Dora asked, Molly nodded, "He's in Azkaban." she said, "I was with Kingsley on patrol in Knockturn Alley one day, when I was still in training, and he had a few illegal items on him so Kingsley and I arrested him on the spot. If I remember right he got a life sentance for having a dragons egg and a few illegal potion ingrediants."

"Good. Serves him right, no-one gets away with threatening our brother." Charlie stated. "And that applies to all of us."

"Sometimes to the point of being over-protective." Ginny muttered, "I agree with that though, no-one threatens a Weasley and get's away with it." she stated making her parents smile proudly while her brothers nodded.

 **"So you must know loads of magic already."**

 **The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

"Not quite the same." said Sirius.

"Definitely one of the nicer families." Draco agreed. "I'm ashamed at how I used to act." he admitted.

"You only knew your Father's stories though." Cissy pointed out, "Sure I told you some but you mainly listened to him."

 **"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

 **"Horrible - well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

"We were going to have more kids once you turned 2, Harry, but, quite obviously, we died." Lily said sadly.

"Yeah," James agreed, "we wanted to have one or two after you but as Lily said, we died."

 **"Five," said Ron.**

 **For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a Prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot,"**

The twins mock-bowed to the annoyance of Molly and Minerva and amusement of the others.

 **"but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny." Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat grey rat, which was asleep.**

Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron and Hermione growled at the rat to the confusion of the others, they just shook their heads at the questioning looks.

"It's explained later." Harry said.

 **"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a Prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead."**

 **Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

 **Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.**

 **"and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort -"**

 **Ron gasped.**

"Oooh, he said Voldemort." said Sirius dramatically.

"Yes, I do believe he did!" said James pretending to faint.

"Oh, the horror!" Sirius cried clutching his heart as if in pain.

Most pepole laughed.

"How I put up with these two for 11 years I'll never know." Lily muttered so that only Dora could hear her.

Dora chuckled a bit before saying, "I feel sorry for you but it's amusing, if a little annoying at times." Lily nodded grudgingly.

 **"What?" said Harry.**

 **"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"**

 **"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry. "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

 **"You won't be."**

"Thanks by the way, I needed to hear that." Harry said to Ron.

"No problem mate." he replied.

 **"There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

They all looked at Lily and Hermione who both smiled.

 **While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep.**

 **They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.**

 **Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"**

 **Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor.**

 **He had never had any money for sweets with the Dursleys and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry but the woman didn't have any Mars Bars.**

 **What she did have were BertieBott's Every-Flavor Beans,**

"Watch yourself with those! I once got liver once. And sprouts. Awful, those!" warned James.

"I've had a bogie flavoured one once." George said.

"Dumbledore told me he had a vomit flavoured one when he was younger, he's had earwax too." Harry added. "I was there with the earwax one."

"Bad luck for him." Minerva mused, "I must remember to ask him about that later."

 **Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron cakes, Liquorice wands and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts**

 **Ron stared as Harry brought it all back into the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

 **"Hungry, are you?"**

 **"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

 **Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches in there. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."**

"Sorry Ron." Molly said to her youngest son who just nodded in acceptance of the apology.

"It's ok Mum I understand that you were pretty busy making lunch for all of us." he told his mother.

 **"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty.**

 **"Go on -"**

 **"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

 **"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry**

"That's nice of you Harry," commented grinned.

 **who had never had anything to share before, or, indeed, anyone to share it with.**

 **It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties and cakes (the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

 **"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

 **"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is, I'm missing Agrippa."**

 **"What?"**

 **"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect - Famous Witches and Wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

 **Harry unwrapped his Chocolate frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache.**

"Dumbledore!" Sirius cheered.

 **Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.**

 **"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

 **"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron.**

 **"Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks -"**

 **Harry turned over his card and read:**

 **Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts.**

 **Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel**

"Who?" Bill asked.

"You will find out." Hermione said, "We had to look him up at one point." she explained.

 **Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**

 **Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared**

 **"He's gone!"**

 **"Well you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do want it? You can start collecting." Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.**

 **"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

 **"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"**

"I thought it was weird when photos moved." Harry chuckled.

 **Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back in the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them.**

 **Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes from the druidess Clidona, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans.**

 **"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe."**

 **"George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once."**

 **Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully and bit into a corner. "Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."**

"I've had that," said James. "I know what you mean." he added sympathetically.

 **They had a good time eating the Every-Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny grey one Ron wouldn't touch,**

"Isn't that just pepper?" asked Sirius.

 **which turned out to be pepper**

"Yeah, I've had that one," said Sirius.

"Yeah wasn't that the one Lucius made you eat when you were 6?" Cissy asked.

"Yup but Remus tricked me into eating one in our fourth year too." he replied glaring at the werewolf, who smirked.

 **The countryside now flying past the window was looking wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills.**

 **There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.**

 **"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"**

 **When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"**

 **"He'll turn up," said Harry.**

 **"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..." He left.**

"That was Neville Longbottom." Remus told James and Lily who nodded.

 **"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could."**

 **"Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."**

 **The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.**

 **"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting,"**

 **"but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."**

 **He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.**

 **"Unicorn hairs nearly poking out. Anyway -"**

 **He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toad less boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

 **"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said.**

"And that's the first time we met Hermione, by the way we didn't like each other at first." Harry said.

 **She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.**

"Flattering." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

 **"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

 **"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.**

 **"Er - all right." He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daises, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

 **He waved his wand, but nothing happened.**

 **Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.**

 **"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course,"**

"Merlin I was annoying." Hermione moaned, going pink.

 **"I mean, it's the best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough -"**

They all (Except Ron and Harry) looked shocked.

"Did you really?" Charlie asked Hermione, she nodded "Wow."

"I don't think any of us could do that if we tried." Bill added making Hermione blush and the others nod.

"I remember all of the tranfiguration textbooks but that's because it's always the same books for each year I never change them as the books I set are usually the best for theory I just show students the wand movements and tell them the incantations as it's hard to learn them from a book." Minerva told them.

"Any subject is hard just to learn from a book." Harry pointed out, "Except maybe history." he shrugged, "Most students couldn't listen to Binn's for more than a minute, I know the Ravenclaws just studied from the book."

"You and Ron just used my notes." Hermione huffed, "You didn't even attempt to listen."

"If we did we'd fall asleep." Ron muttered, "That ghost is just too boring."

 **"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said all this very fast.**

 **Harry looked at Ron and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learnt all the set books off by heart either.**

 **"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.**

 **"Harry Potter," said Harry.**

 **"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."**

"Is it a bad thing that I didn't know I was in a book? In fact it doesn't matter, those books were mostly guesses about what happened the night Voldemort disappeared and what happened after it." Harry said.

 **"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.**

 **"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, It sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one,"**

"Yeah, he was," said Sirius.

"How d'you find out?" the twins asked. "We found out one day we were in trouble it was involved in the speech he gave us." George explained.

"The Marauders have mysterious ways," said Sirius mysteriously.

"We just asked him," said Remus.

Lily snorted, "So much for your 'Mysterious ways'."

 **"but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."**

 **And she left, taking the toad less boy with her.**

 **"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.**

Hermione and Molly glared at Ron and he cringed and moved closer to Harry.

 **He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

"Probably, I would've done the same thing"

 **"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

 **"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

 **"That's the house Vol - I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"**

 **"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat looking depressed.**

 **"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers's whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry trying to take Ron's mind off houses.**

 **"So what do your oldest brothers do now they've left, anyway?" Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.**

 **"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons"**

"I was. I'm now at the reserve in Ireland, half of their dragon keepers were killed in the war so I've been relocated." Charlie said. "Closer to home too."

 **"and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron.**

"I was checking out an old temple." Bill smiled, "You should've seen all the cool drawings on it's walls, dated right back to the founders days I think."

 **"Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high-security vault."**

 **Harry stared. "Really? What happened to them?"**

 **"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."**

 **Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying 'Voldemort' without worrying.**

"Fear of a name, only increases fear of the thing itself." Remus said nodding.

 **"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

 **"Er - I don't know any," Harry confessed.**

 **"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he'd had the money.**

 **He was just taking Harry through the finer point of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toad less boy or Hermione Granger this time.**

 **Three boys entered and Harry recognized the middle one at once:**

 **It was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop.**

They all groaned. Including Draco himself.

 **He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

"Fair warning, I'm an even bigger prat this time." Draco said.

 **"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

 **"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing either side of the pale boy they looked like bodyguards.**

 **"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking.**

"Just as bad and thick as Dudley if they're anything like their fathers." scoffed Sirius, and the others nodded.

"They were." Draco confirmed, "But I'd known them for years and they listened to me unlike the others."

"Others?" Lily asked.

"Other kids from the, mostly dark, pureblood families." Cissy clarified, "We used to hold them so the kids had more experience with the people apart from their tutors and family members."

"Yeah, going from alone with only occasional contact with people to 6 hours a day of tutoring was hard enough." Regulus muttered, "Hogwarts is a bigger leap than that so for about two years before going there were constant social gatherings and visits so the younger kids get to develop better social skills."

"It was quite a difficult leap." Sirius nodded, "I was still a little overwhelmed by all the people on the platform and in the Great Hall when I first arrived." he admitted.

"You hid it well enough." Cissy mused.

"The 'mask' came in handy." he grinned, "So glad I learned how to do it."

"What mask?" Hermione asked.

"The one all traditionally dark families teach their kids." James supplied, "My Mum taught me when I was younger, basically it keeps your face blank. Usually people figure it out on their own." he added shrugging.

"And usually don't bother using it often." Andy said, "I only used it around the older members of the family."

"That's what we all did." Sirius snorted, "Most kids from families that do that just forget about all the things their parents tell them before Hogwarts."

"And act like the rest of the kids and teenagers." Draco added, "The majority of my year had strict orders from their parents to not act like kids. Like no rivalries, no dueling, no having fun unless it's done elegantly and has no way of embarrassing you and your family... Basically they were told to be adults." he shrugged.

"And I suppose you got two messages?" Cissy inquired, "I know I told you to behave and try your best but I don't know if Lucius said anything."

"He told me a few things but I'll explain them later." Draco said.

 **"And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

 **Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.**

 **"Think my name's funny, do you?"**

 **"No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford."**

Draco winced as everyone glared at him.

 **He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."**

 **He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.**

 **"I think I can tell who the wrong sorts are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

"Good one, Harry!" the twins cheered.

 **Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.**

 **"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents."**

"Isn't 'zat kind of a death threat?" Fluer asked.

"Yes it is and had I known about this incident Draco would have found himself in detention for the whole year." Minerva said through thin lips, she was very protective of Harry, he was like a nephew or grandson to her.

"Sorry." Draco winced, "I spent way too much time listening to my Father say that."

 **"They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you."**

 **Both Harry and Ron stood up.**

 **Ron's face was as red as his hair. "Say that again," he said.**

 **"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" sneered Malfoy.**

 **"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.**

"So? The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Remus growled

 **"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."**

 **Goyle reached towards the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.**

"Wait, what happened?" Percy asked.

 **Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle Crabbe and Malfoy backed away.**

"Whimps!" said James and Sirius.

 **As Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once.**

 **Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking around the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in "What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

 **"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep."**

 **And so he had.**

 **"You've met Malfoy before?"**

 **Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.**

 **"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched."**

"Yeah right." James muttered.

"That was my idea I didn't want Draco growing up without anyone there because I was in prison," Cissy admitted quietly, "Sure he may have had Severus but it wouldn't be the same."

"Why Snape?" Sirius asked curiously.

"He was my Godfather." Draco said sadly. "That's why he favoured me a lot. If I really was out of line he'd call me to his office and tell me I was wrong there and usually got me to re-arrange his potions ingredients as punishment." he said fondly. "Sometimes he'd just make me list them all by name and what they do, that's how I'm good at potion making, because he started getting me to learn them when I was 5 or 6."

"You were 5." Cissy told him, "You just turned 5 when he offered to start teaching you." Draco nodded.

 **"My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."**

 **He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

 **"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

 **"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron.**

 **"Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

 **"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors,"**

"Gee, acting childishly wouldn't be 'cause they're children would it?" Fred asked sarcastically. Hermione blushed again.

 **said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"As a matter of fact, I didn't." Ron said in the same tone as Hermione used in the memory making the women in the room, including Hermione herself, giggle and the men chuckle.

"I think that's enough until after dinner." Harry said looking at his watch that announced it was 4 pm. They all agreed and Molly went to make dinner with the other women following to help while the men chatted amongst themselves.


	5. Sorting

Harry added the memory then went back to his seat. "This is my memory of the sorting and then of going up to the tower." he explained.

 **The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face**

"Minnie!" the Marauders cheered making Minerva glare at them.

 **and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"At least you figured that out Harry it took your father and godfather three weeks and 21 detentions before they figured it out." Minerva commented smiling at a very red James and Sirius.

"We didn't mean to do it." James said defensively.

"Yeah how were we to know it would explode?" Sirius added.

Remus had noticed the confused looks on the others face's so said, "We weren't friends at first I was considered loopy as I used to mutter to keep the wolf at bay when I could feel it coming close to the surface, but James and Sirius were nice enough about it then we gradually became friends." he explained, "These two decided to set up an indoor fireworks display on Halloween and it went wrong. No one was hurt but a few of the fireworks landed on the house tables just before they exploded and everyone got covered in food."

"We were first years, besides it worked in second year when you helped us Moony." James said.

"Yes it did and it was Dumbledore who stopped me from giving you three detention. He said it was in holiday spirit and it cheered everyone up, the war was getting worse, so I couldn't punish you for it." Minerva told them, they snickered.

 **"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.**

 **"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."**

 **She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursleys' house in it.**

"And even the Dursley's themselves. Which would be more of a challenge." Ron said chuckling.

 **The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.**

 **They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they normally would have done, peering about nervously.**

 **"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room."**

"That's exactly what you said to us. Word-for-Word." Lily told Minerva who just smiled.

 **"The four houses are called Gryffindor,"**

The Marauders and twins cheered.

 **"Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."**

They boo'd this time.

 **"Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards.** **While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."**

"We didn't bother," said James pointing to himself then Sirius. "We were soaking wet, we fell in the lake, so there wasn't really much we could do."

 **Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

"That won't help son." James said, "Nothing and no-one can beat or tame the Potter hair."

Harry nodded, "I noticed."

 **"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall, "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.**

 **"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.**

 **"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."**

"Of course it was a joke you idiot." Fred said.

 **Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet - what on earth would he have to do?**

"Just have to put on a hat." George said.

"Well we didn't know that did we?" Harry replied.

 **He hadn't expected something like this the moment he arrived.**

"Oh yes, it's so hard to put a hat on." Fred said sarcastically, making the Golden Trio glare at him.

"You told me we had to wrestle a troll so shut it." Ron told him.

"Um... Ron?" Harry whispered to him so only he could hear, "We did eventually do that."

"You wrestled it, I just hit it with its club." he whispered back with a smirk.

 **He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which one she'd need.**

 **Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue.**

"Wow. You could do that before you even got a wand!" said Sirius, impressed.

"Before you even knew your a wizard!" James added.

Harry shrugged. "It was accidental magic I didn't control it." he said.

 **He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.**

"Dramatic much?" snorted Sirius.

"It runs in the family," said Remus, looking at James. James took it as a compliment.

 **Then something happened which made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.**

"What is it?" asked James.

"Must be ghosts." said Sirius.

"Could be Peeves!" they said together, gleefully.

 **"What the -?" He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first-years.**

 **They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk**

"Fat Friar!" James said.

 **was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"**

 **"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"**

"Finally, one noticed!" Lily said.

 **A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first-years.**

"Nick!" said James and Sirius.

 **"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"**

"Noooo... we just felt like standing there," said Harry sarcastically making everyone laugh.

 **A few people nodded mutely.**

 **"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

 **"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."**

 **Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.**

 **"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first-years, "and follow me."**

 **Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead,**

"I remember that feeling." said Lily.

 **Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.**

 **Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.**

 **Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.**

 **The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."**

 **It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open up to the heavens.**

 **Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat.**

"'Zat's the Sorting Hat?" Fluer asked curiously.

"Yes it is. I'm guessing you didn't go to Hogwarts Fluer?" Lily asked.

"Non, I went to Beaubaxtons in France." she explained.

 **This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house. Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing - noticing that everyone in the Hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it too.**

 **For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:**

 **"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**

 **But don't judge on what you see,**

 **I'll eat myself if you can find**

 **A smarter hat than me.**

 **You can keep your bowlers black,**

 **Your top hats sleek and tall,**

 **For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**

 **And I can cap them all.**

 **There's nothing hidden in your head**

 **The Sorting hat can't see,**

 **So try me on and I will tell you**

 **Where you ought to be.**

 **You might belong in Gryffindor,**

 **Where dwell the brave at heart,**

 **Their daring, nerve and chivalry**

 **Set Gryffindors apart;**

 **You might belong in Hufflepuff,**

 **Where they are just and loyal,**

 **Those patient Hufflepuffs are true**

 **And unafraid of toil;**

 **Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**

 **If you've a ready mind,**

 **Where those of wit and learning,**

 **Will always find there kind;**

 **Or perhaps in Slytherin**

 **You'll make your real friends,**

 **Those cunning folk use any means**

 **To achieve their ends."**

"I think its also house rivalries that make most people in Slytherin go dark," Draco said, "from the moment the hat shouts Slytherin we're automatically branded as evil." he explained.

Harry nodded, "I think your right Draco, but I think that's only part of it, there are other factors too, like how you were raised and how much ambition you have."

"It's true. Regulus and I both had mixed messages growing up it was my decision to go to the light instead of the dark side." Sirius said as Regulus nodded, "Regulus obviously was a Death Eater but he was killed trying to leave."

Cissy shook her head, "We don't know how he died Sirius," at this the four who knew the truth looked down so no-one saw their knowing looks, "I was told about the meeting when Voldemort was told of Regulus's dissappearance. We thought he was killed on a mission but no-one ever found his body." Cissy explained.

"That's because only I know the whole truth of that." Regulus commented.

"We know the truth of that. It was closer to what Sirius said but you will just have to wait to find out about it as it plays a role in our seventh year." Harry told them.

"How'd you find out?" Regulus asked.

"That's for us to know and for you to find out. Okay back to the memory Ladies and Gentlemen." Harry said making everyone chuckle again.

 **"So put me on! Don't be afraid!**

 **And don't get in a flap!**

 **You're in safe hands (though I have none)**

 **For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**

 **The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.**

 **"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."**

Harry, Ron and Hermione smirked at each other and glanced at Minerva who's lip's twitched.

 **Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he wished he could have tried it on without everyone watching.**

 **The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.**

 **Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.**

 **"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"**

 **A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause - "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.**

 **The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.**

 **"Bones, Susan!"**

"So some of the Bones must have survived!" said Lily happily.

"It was Amelia Bones and her brother Edgar's daughter Susan." Minerva explained.

 **"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

 **"Boot, Terry!"**

"We were at school with his parents they were a year above us." Remus said.

 **"RAVENCLAW!"**

 **The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. "Brocklehurst, Mandy"**

 **went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender"**

"Greg's daughter, you reckon?" Remus asked.

"Greg?" Sirius questioned.

"Greg Brown, Gryffindor. Same year as Lucius and Cissy, remember?" said James.

"Oh yeah, course I remember. Their fight in Transfiguration was famous!" exclaimed Sirius. "The whole school heard about it!"

"Yeah." Cissy said, "I remember him."

"Shame Lucius left before us," said Sirius. James stared at him. "What? it was fun hitting him with bludgers in seccond and third year!"

"Oh. Yeah, that's true." James admitted.

 **became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.**

"We did that too," said Sirius. "Every sorting!"

 **"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became the first Slytherin.**

 **Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked an unpleasant lot.**

"They are, Harry," said James. "Well, some of them," he added under Lily, Cissy, Draco and Andy's glares.

 **He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during sports lessons at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they like him.**

 **"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"**

 **"HUFFLEPUFF!"**

 **Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide.**

"Took about four seconds with me," said James proudly.

"Took its time with me," muttered Sirius.

"Didn't take that long with me, but it wasn't just two seconds either," said Lily.

"Same here," Remus said at the same time as Dora.

"It couldn't decide weather to put me in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor." Dora said. "It eventually put me in Hufflepuff."

 **"Finnigan, Seamus" the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.**

 **"Granger, Hermione!"**

 **Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

Hermione blushed as most people snickered.

 **"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.**

 **Ron groaned.**

 **A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous.**

 **What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?**

"That can't happen!" said Sirius. "Can it?" he added uncertainly.

"It cant." Minerva said smiling.

 **When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR", Neville ran off still wearing it,**

They all laughed.

"That was pretty funny." the twins said.

 **and had to jog amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."**

 **Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"**

 **Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.**

 **There weren't many people left now.**

 **Moon David, in Ravenclaw... Nott... Parkinson... then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"... then "Perks, Sally-Anne"... and then, at last- "Potter, Harry!"**

 **As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

"Of course." Harry moaned, "There was always whispers." he explained to his parent's and the others who looked confused.

 **"Potter, did she say?"**

 **"The Harry Potter?"**

 **The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.**

 **"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"**

 **Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."**

 **"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that - no? Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!"**

"It almost put you in Slytherin?" Draco asked shocked Harry nodded.

"Wow it was close then." Percy said also shocked, "Mind you it did that with me as well because of the ambition to do well, it also considered Ravenclaw." he admitted.

"It considered Hufflepuff for me." Charlie said.

"We were considered for Slytherin too." George said pointing at Fred as he said it.

"I was considered for Ravenclaw." Hermione said.

"No surprises there Miss Smartest Witch Of Her Age." Harry teased, Hermione blushed.

 **Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole Hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily towards the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet.**

 **Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"**

Everyone grinned as the twins stood and bowed.

 **Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged into a bucket of ice-cold water.**

 **He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs-up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd got out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole Hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts.**

 **Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.**

 **And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now.**

 **Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"**

 **Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.**

 **"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise" was made a Slytherin.**

"He was quite quiet most of the time. He's actually a really good friend of mine." Draco said, "Especially because he stayed neutral through the war, he helped a lot when I wasn't at home." he explained.

 **Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.**

 **Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.**

 **Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.**

"Nothing probably could." Minerva said smiling.

 **"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"**

 **He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

 **"Is he - a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.**

 **"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"**

 **Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some reason, mint humbugs.**

 **The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry**

"They better not have." Lily said furiously with James nodding next to her.

"They never." Harry said before glaring at Ron as he opened his mouth to speak and shaking his head making Ron close his mouth with a pop.

 **but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry wanted, even if it made him sick.**

 **Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the humbugs and began to eat. It was delicious.**

 **"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak. "Can't you -?"**

 **"I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

 **"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

 **"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnegan interrupted.**

 **"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.**

 **"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell on to his shoulder as if it was on a hinge.**

 **Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.**

 **Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back on to his neck, coughed and said, "So - new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."**

 **Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

"Good." Ginny said smirking at Draco, who pouted.

"Well in my defense he's creepy." he said. Regulus Cissy and Andy nodded.

 **"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

 **"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.**

 **When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before.**

"Ah, those marvelous house-elves!" Sirius commented making Hermione glare at him.

 **A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of ice-cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding...**

 **As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.**

 **"I'm half and half," said Seamus. "Me Dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."**

They all laughed.

 **The others laughed.**

 **"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.**

 **"Well, my Gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville,**

"His Gran?" asked James slowly.

"What happened to Alice and Frank?" Lily questioned.

"Our sister." Cissy and Andy replied. "Bellatrix."

"You will find out the rest later." Harry added.

 **"but the family thought I was a Muggle for ages."**

"Doesn't he mean Squib?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, we think he forgot the word or didn't know it." Hermione smiled.

 **"My great-uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. Great-uncle Algie came round for tea and was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my great-auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go."**

They all looked shocked.

 **"But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased. Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see."**

"Hmm... I seem to remember being thrown out of Ron's bedroom window once." Ginny said glaring at the twins who looked ashamed.

"Well that's why Mum stopped us from playing Truth or Dare." Bill said, "We just got worse the older we were." he explained to everyone who had not seen a game of Weasley Truth or Dare.

"And your mother was right to ban that game in the house. Why I suggested it to you in the first place I don't know." Arthur said.

"We were bored, it was when Mum was pregnant with Ron, and it was raining," Charlie told his father, "and you suggested we play a game Bill asked 'What kind of game' and you said 'Truth or Dare' so we invented our own version and taught it to Ron and Ginny when they were old enough." he explained.

"Arthur!" Molly said shocked, "It was you who told them to play it?"

"Mum it was me and George who took it to the extreme. Dad didn't tell us to make it worse." Fred told her while all the Weasley kids nodded. Molly huffed and went back to watching the memory.

 **"Great-uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

 **On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons**

 **("I do hope they start straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult -"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing -")**

 **Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the high table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin.**

"SNAPE!" James yelled.

 **It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead. "Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.**

 **"What is it?" asked Percy.**

 **"N-nothing."**

Percy looked at Harry, "You should have said something you know." he said. Harry shrugged.

"It really was nothing compared to everything else." he replied.

 **The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off the feeling Harry had from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.**

"He didn't." Harry said.

 **"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

 **"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."**

 **Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.**

 **At last, the puddings too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The Hall fell silent.**

 **"Ahem - just a few more words now we are all fed and watered."**

"Fed and watered?" Fred questioned.

"He must think we're horses." George joked.

 **"I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."**

The Marauders grinned as did the twins.

 **Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.**

 **"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."**

"That just gives troublemakers incentive to go and have a look." Remus commented.

 **Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.**

 **"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.**

"No that's me." Sirius said cheerfully. Everyone else groaned at the pun.

 **"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that."**

"Never stopped us, did it?" grinned James.

"Nope." Sirius grinned back.

Minerva rolled her eyes as did Remus.

 **"I think he might have told us Prefects, at least."**

 **"And now before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.**

 **Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he were trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words.**

 **"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"**

 **And the school bellowed:**

 **"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,**

 **Teach us something please,**

 **Whether we be old and bald**

 **Or young with scabby knees,**

 **Our heads could do with filling**

 **With some interesting stuff,**

 **For now they're bare and full of air,**

 **Dead flies and bits of fluff,**

 **So teach us things worth knowing,**

 **Bring back what we've forgot,**

 **Just do your best, we'll do the rest**

 **And learn until our brains all rot."**

 **Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.**

Sirius grinned. "We always sang to slow songs and we were always the loudest too!"

 **Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand, and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest**

 **"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! "And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"**

"What's with him and horses? He used to say that to us as well!" James said.

 **Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was wondering how much further they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.**

 **A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them and as Percy took a step towards them they started throwing themselves at him.**

"Peeves!" Sirius, James and the twins said grinning.

 **"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first-years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."**

 **A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.**

All the men chuckled.

 **"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

 **There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.**

 **"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle firsties! What fun!"**

"Said the same to us, didn't he Padfoot, Moony?" asked James.

"Yeah." they replied.

 **He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.**

 **"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.**

 **Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head.**

 **They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.**

 **"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us Prefects."**

"Prefects? If he doesn't listen to teachers, or even Dumbledore, what makes him think he'll listen to a prefect?" wondered Sirius.

"He listened to us sometimes though." interjected James.

"He did?" Minerva asked.

"Yeah." Sirius put in.

"How come?" Dora asked.

"We're fellow pranksters," said James simply, as if it were obvious. "Though he was often more of a hindrance than a help."

 **"Here we are."**

 **At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.**

 **"Password?" she said.**

 **"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.**

 **Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.**

 **"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."**

 **Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once. Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream.**

 **He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny.**

"Stupid Voldemort." Harry muttered so only Ron and Hermione could hear him.

 **Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier; he tried to pull it off, but it tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it - then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape,**

"Greasy git." James said. Lily smacked him on the back of the head.

 **whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst of green light**

"Oh no... that's..." began Sirius but his voice trailed off at Harry's nod.

"The Killing Curse." Harry confirmed quietly.

 **and Harry woke, sweating and shaking. He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.**

"Good." Lily nodded, "You definatly don't need to remember that."

"I think that's enough for tonight." Harry said smiling.

Everyone nodded and either headed home to return in the morning, or up to bed for the night.


	6. A Duel Potter!

The next morning once everyone was in the living room after breakfast and those who had left arrived, Harry started thinking about what memories to show everyone next.

"I think we will skip my first potions class, lets just say it was a disaster and Snape hated me with a passion." he said.

"Why did Sev hate you?" Regulus asked, he had gotten quite close to him when he joined the Death Eaters.

"Because of us." Remus awnsered him.

"Yeah we did pick on him a lot." James said looking ashamed under Lily's glare.

"He assumed I was just like my father because of my apperance and he refused to look past that and see me for who I am. To him I was an arrogant, attention seeking brat who was treated like royalty and got everything my own way and didn't care who got hurt to do it." Harry explained. "It didn't help that I was terrible at potions either." he added.

"He also favoured Draco over everyone else." Ron added.

"Well he was my Godfather but I think my Father had something to do with the favouring me part." Draco told them, getting nod's.

"Okay lets start with at the end of the potions lesson." Harry said.

 **As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week -**

"Don't sweat it. We lost closer to fifty." James told his son.

"And yet you seem proud of it." said Minerva exasperatedly.

 **why did Snape hate him so much?**

"Because he hates me." James said.

"But he likes Lily." Remus pointed out.

"But he looks like me." James argued.

"Not his eyes," Remus retorted.

"Everything else, though. Main looks. From his hair to his... erm... nose!" he finished awkwardly getting laughs from the rest of the room. "Whatever. The point is Snape hated me and therefore he'll hate any children that are Potter's."

 **"Cheer up," said Ron. "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George."**

"It's true." the twins said in unison.

 **"Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?" At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.**

 **When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks.**

"Fang!" all the boys, except Draco, cheered.

"Right coward, that dog!" said Charlie.

"Like some other dogs I know." said James, looking at Sirius.

"Oi! I am not a coward!" Sirius shouted.

"Who said it was you?" Remus asked him.

"Urgh!" Sirius groaned and put his head in his hands.

"You walked yourself into that one Siri." Regulus said chuckling.

Sirius looked up, "You know about the animagus thing?" Regulus nodded. "How? We never told anyone."

"Um... you may have left your notes lying around your room one day, when Mother was punishing you -" Sirius went pale at the mention of the punishment's he used to get. "- also the flea collar and chew toy I found after you left were a hint as well." Regulus explained watching as his brother stared into space. "Sirius?" he said confused and worried.

Harry went over to Sirius, "Sirius whats up?" he asked his godfather while shaking his shoulder.

The only response he got was a whispered "Punishment's." confusing himself and everyone who didn't know what the punishments were. James, Remus and Regulus suddenly looked understanding.

Regulus got up and dragged his big brother with him. "Explain." he added to James, who nodded, on his way out.

"Their parent's hated Sirius for being who he is." James started, "He used to get punished for the smallest things." he explained.

"Kind of like me then." Harry suggested his father and Remus nodded.

"Similar, but his were much worse." Remus said, "He used to get fire whipped, meaning it's like your being burned but it doesn't leave a mark, by Kreacher, that's one of the reasons why he hate's the elf so much, then he used to get thrown in the cellar and left there in the dark with nothing to eat or drink and his back, arms and legs feeling like they had been burned to the bone, for undetermined periods of time." he explained.

"That's not all Moony," James added, "I noticed him shaking once, it was the summer he ran away from home and when he came to my house. I asked him about it and he told me he'd been Crucio'ed by his Father."

"I remember that, Uncle Orion was furious at what Sirius had done but Aunt Walburga kept saying that the Cruciatus was too far." Cissy said suddenly just as Regulus came back in.

"He's asking for you James." he said. James nodded and left.

"What part are you up to in explaining?" Regulus asked. Remus told him. "Oh yeah, that, well as Sirius was leaving my Father tried to Imperio him but Sirius fought it so he got Crucio'ed by our Father before our Mother stopped him." Regulus said wincing at the memory, "Despite what he belives she did actualy care she just didn't want him to ruin his life which she thought would happen if he was himself. She wanted him to follow the traditional line of the Blacks that's why she was so hard on him. I asked her after he left and once our Father had went to work the next day." he added.

"That was just the type of person she was." Cissy said, "But she must have noticed that Sirius never was, and was never going to be, like the rest of us."

Regulus shrugged as James and a better looking Sirius walked in and sat down again.

"You okay Padfoot?" Remus asked Sirius nodded as the memory started again.

 **Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang - Back." Hagrid's big hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."**

"Doesn't really name his pets well, does he?" Fred commented.

"What d'you mean?" Draco asked.

"Well, he's a coward, but he's called Fang? Does that sound right to you?" George said.

"Guess not." Draco admitted.

 **He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.**

 **There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.**

 **"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears.**

 **Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.**

"Definatly not. Kind of like Padfoot." James said, making Sirius grin.

 **"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes on to a plate.**

"Whatever you do, don't eat them!" warned James.

 **"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spend half me life chasin yer twin brothers away from the Forest."**

"And spent the other half chasing us away." said Sirius proudly as the twins put on innocent faces that no-one believed.

 **The rock cakes almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid about their first lessons.**

 **Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled over his robes. Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."**

"It's the truth." the twins said.

"The cold hard truth." the Marauders agreed.

"That is why I'm replacing him." Minerva said, "I've never liked him but Albus was too soft to fire him. So I'm going to do it once I've found a replacement." she explained.

 **"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang some time. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Filch puts her up to it."**

"Most likely." the twins said.

 **Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry no to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.**

 **"But he seemed to really hate me."**

 **"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"**

"Because of Prongs." Remus and Sirius said.

"And me." Sirius added.

 **Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.**

"I love him; you can tell when he's lying." Harry sighed fondly.

 **"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot - great with animals." Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose.**

 **While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:**

 **GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**

 **Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of dark wizards or witches unknown.**

 **Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.**

 **"But we're not telling what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokes goblin this afternoon.**

"That's a nice way to tell them to mind their own business, isn't it?" Regulus commented.

"That's not their nice way. The nice way is along the lines of 'Only our manager knew what was in there. We're not allowed to tell you so goodbye.'" Bill chuckled, "That basically told them 'Get lost, we're not telling you because we dont want to look bad.'" he shrugged.

"Goblin's may not seem like it but they do care about how they look to their customers in terms of security and confidentiality." Fleur nodded.

 **Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.**

 **"Hagrid!" said Harry. "That Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"**

 **There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time.**

"Bless him, he couldn't lie if his life depended on it." James said.

 **He grunted and offered him another rock cake.**

 **Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package.**

 **Had that been what the thieves were looking for?**

 **As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?**

"Skipping." Harry said.

 **Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley,**

"What?" Remus asked.

 **but that was before he met Draco Malfoy**

"Oh, that makes more sense." Draco said going pink. "It's me being the worlds biggest prat again."

 **Still, first-year Gryffindors only had potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much.**

 **Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room which made them groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday - and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.**

Everyone groaned.

"I did try to get my Gryffindor's put with the Hufflepuff's and Severus did try to get his Slytherin's with the Ravenclaw's but unfortunately, because of the timetables, the Gryffindor's had to go with the Slytherin's that year. Severus had a class so I was sitting watching from an unused classroom's window as something, usually something bad, almost always happens when Slytherin and Gryffindor are put together for flying lessons." Minerva explained.

"Or any lessons in general." Ginny mused, "Depending on the teacher, there were always fights or little incidents either before, during or leaving class."

"Slytherin's usually don't get along at all with Gryffindor's." Draco said, "Same the other way around. It was bad whenever we got stuck with each other in classes."

"I'd noticed that with the 6th year Gryffindor's and Slytherin's when I was there." Remus commented, "There was an increasing problem with the 1st year class too."

"Which is why Albus and I usually kept them seperated unless there was no way to avoid it." Minerva explained, "That wont happen this year. We'll be purposefully putting them together to get the two houses to work together better."

"It'll be a miracle if that works." James predicted.

"The DA worked with a few Slytherin's last year." Ginny told him, "And that was without any nasty comments or arguments at all, just a few snide remarks from them infront of teachers so they could stay undetected." she shrugged.

"And if you hadn't noticed there are a few Slytherin's here you get along with." Andy added, "And not all Slytherin's are evil, I'm not, neither is Cissy or Draco even if they made bad choices in the past."

"My girlfriend, Astoria, isn't evil at all, she was one of the one's helping the other houses last year." Draco said.

"The main problem is getting students to drop the stereotypes and realize everyone can get along if they tried." Minerva smiled.

Harry shrugged, "A whole quarter of the wizarding cant be all evil or bad."

"The war would've been worse if it was." Remus nodded, "My parents used to tell me not to judge people on their house, color of skin, species or past. They did advise me to be careful around pureblood's though."

"One of the things that most pureblood's learn growing up is how to identify werewolves and vampires, thing's like that." Regulus nodded.

"That's how we confirmed it." James added, "When we were in 1st year at the end of the year we saw a few of the scars Remus had."

"Both of us recognized it was from a werewolf since those scars are unique." Sirius sighed, "We already had an idea by then but we didn't want to ask until we knew."

"So you waited and cornered me." Remus huffed, "Oh well it was easier than me having to tell you outright myself... Or getting Poppy and Dumbledore to do it." he shrugged.

 **"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."**

 **He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.**

 **"You don't know you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."**

 **Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first-years never getting in the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories which always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.**

"Right, yeah, like that happened." the twins scoffed.

"I was just boasting." Draco admitted sheepishly.

 **He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnegan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick.**

"That's hardly any more believable than my story!" Draco said.

"Wait... isn't he Muggle Born?" asked Regulus.

"No, his 'Mam' was a witch," said Ron imitating Seamus' Irish accent.

 **Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hand-glider on Charlie's old broom.**

"RON!" Molly screeched.

"Sorry." Ron said, not sounding at all apologetic, as everyone laughed.

 **Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football.**

 **Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly.**

 **Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham football team, trying to make the players move.**

 **Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.**

 **Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book -** **not that she hadn't tried.**

 **At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd got out of a library book called Quidditch through the Ages.**

"That's a good book." James said.

"It is." Regulus agreed.

"But it won't help you if you don't fly already." Ginny commented.

"Nope." the twins said.

 **Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the post.**

 **Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course.**

"Sorry Harry." Draco said. Harry nodded accepting the apology.

 **Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.**

"Git." Sirius muttered so only James and Remus heard.

 **A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them all, a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.**

"A rememberall!" squealed Lily. "Those are so nice!"

 **"It's a Rememberall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things - this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red - oh..." His face fell, because the Rememberall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "... you've forgotten something..."**

 **Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten**

They laughed

 **when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Rememberall out of his hand.**

"Give that back, you git!" James yelled, Lily smacked him on the back of the head.

"Sorry!" Draco said again.

 **Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school,**

"That's because I pay attention and had lots of practice with the Marauders." Minerva said smugly, while the Marauders grinned.

 **was there in a flash. "What's going on?"**

 **"Malfoy's got my Rememberall, Professor."**

 **Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Rememberall back on the table. "Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.**

 **At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn**

"Perfect conditions." James commented.

 **on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.**

 **The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.**

"Haven't fixed that, have they?" said James.

"Apparently not." Charlie said.

 **Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.**

 **"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."**

 **Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.**

"They need new brooms." Lily commented as Minerva nodded.

"I've been meaning to get them fixed or replaced for a while but other more urgent problems always pop up when I'm about to do it." she admitted.

 **"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say, 'Up!'"**

 **"UP!" everyone shouted.**

 **Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.**

 **Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows, correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.**

Draco flushed as most people in the room snickered.

 **"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle - three - two -"**

 **But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madame Hooch's lips.**

 **"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle twelve feet - twenty feet.**

"Wild broomstick. Poor Neville." Ginny said.

 **Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and - WHAM**

The three with sensitive hearing winced.

 **\- a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay, face down, on the grass in a heap.**

They all winced.

"Poor Neville!" Lily said echoing Ginny.

"He's a Gryffindor! He'll bear it!" said James confidently, although he didn't really believe it.

 **His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the Forbidden Forest and out of sight.**

 **Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.**

 **"Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy - it's all right, up you get." She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on, dear."**

 **Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.**

 **No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in.**

"Prat's!" George shouted.

"Git's!" Fred yelled.

"Snake's!" James said.

"Flea's!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Flea's?" Harry asked amused.

"Yeah! They're a right pain, those little buggers." Sirius announced.

"You would know." James snorted.

"Of course I do!" Sirius complained.

"Okay here is what I'm going to do." Draco started going red, "I know I'm a prat through all of our years at school so I'm going to apologise now for all of it." he took out his wand and stood up, "I, Draco Regulus Malfoy, apologise for being such a big prat to everyone while I was at school." he finished, a pale blue light came out of his wand and surrounded his body then faded, sealing the apology. He got a few approving nod's from people in the room and smiles from the rest.

 **"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.**

 **"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry babies, Parvati."**

 **"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Rememberall glittered in the sun as he held it up.**

 **"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.**

 **Everyone stopped talking to watch. Malfoy smiled nastily.**

 **"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect - how about - up a tree?"**

 **"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt on to his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well - hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!" Harry grabbed his broom.**

 **"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move - you'll get us all into trouble."**

 **Harry ignored her.**

"You know I'm kind of glad you did." Hermione said quietly to Harry who grinned and nodded.

 **Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared, air rushed through his hair and his robes whipped out behind him - and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught - this was easy, this was wonderful.**

 **He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.**

"Yeah! Go Harry!" Sirius and James cheered with the twins.

 **He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned.**

"You should be! Never take on a Potter in a flying contest!" James announced as the others who had seen Harry or his Father fly nodded.

 **"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"**

 **"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.**

They snickered.

"I wasn't expecting Harry to come after me. I thought he'd be too scared." Draco said going pink.

"I didn't know how to fly before I got on that broom though, I was just lucky. You should never underestimate someone, either, that's how accidents happen." Harry told him, thinking of how most people underestimated the younger Lord Voldemort, Draco nodded, hanging his head in shame.

 **Harry knew, somehow, what to do.**

 **He leant forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands and shot towards Malfoy like a javelin.**

"I wasn't expecting that either." Draco commented. Harry smirked.

 **Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about turn and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.**

"It is impressive for a first year." Regulus said.

 **"No Crabbe and Goyle to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called. The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.**

 **"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back towards the ground.**

 **Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leant forward and pointed his broom handle down - next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive,**

"That was just scary Harry." Ron said with Hermione nodding as Ginny, Molly, Lily, Fluer, Andy and even Cissy shrieked in fear.

 **racing the ball - wind whistled in his ears, mingling with the screams of people watching - he stretched out his hand - a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently on to the grass with the Rememberall clutched safely in his fist.**

"Damn." James breathed, "Your good."

"Don't know if even Prongs could've pulled that off," said Sirius. James didn't look offended.

"Seeker." Regulus said happily. James beamed.

Harry hid his smile behind his hand.

 **"HARRY POTTER!"**

They all groaned, exept Minerva, Harry, Ron and Hermione.

 **His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running towards them. He got to his feet trembling.**

 **"Never - in all my time at Hogwarts -" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock,**

"That's a first!" James said.

"She always had something to say to us!" Sirius added.

"Well, he did nearly give me a heart attack." Minerva said glaring at Harry who smiled back innocently making Ron, Ginny and Hermione chuckle remembering the other times Harry had done that to their head of house.

 **and her glasses flashed furiously, "- how dare you - might have broken your neck -"**

"But I didn't." Harry said.

 **"It wasn't his fault, Professor -"**

"Exactly." Draco said guiltily, "It was my fault."

 **"Be quiet, Miss Patil -"**

 **"But Malfoy -"**

 **"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."**

 **Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left, walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode towards the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it.**

 **He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks.**

"You honestly thought I was going to expel you?" Minerva asked Harry, he nodded with a pout.

"You could've said something." he huffed.

"I didn't think you'd jump to that conclusion." she shrugged.

 **He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?**

"Probably something along the lines of, 'bugger he's back'." George said making everyone laugh.

 **Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore.**

 **He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant.**

 **His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others become wizards while he stumped the grounds, carrying Hagrid's bag.**

 **Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside. "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"**

 **Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?**

"Don't be stupid!" Ginny scoffed.

"Hey it was my imagination running wild, I couldn't help it." Harry defended himself.

 **But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.**

 **"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry. "In here."**

 **Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom which was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.**

"I wonder what he was writing." Sirius grinned.

"Probably something the Marauders taught him no doubt." Minerva replied. The three grinned.

 **"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.**

 **"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood - I've found you a Seeker."**

"WHAT!" those who didn't know shouted evidently shocked.

"You got on the team in your 1st year?" James questioned, "You had to have been the youngest seeker in -"

"- a century." Harry cut his father off with a smile while Minerva nodded.

"Wow. I knew you were good Harry but I didn't know you were that good." Andy said checking on Teddy who was still asleep in his magical playpen. "I've seen you fly before but I haven't seen you play Quiditch yet." she explained.

 **Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.**

 **"Are you serious, Professor?"**

"Nope that's me." Sirius said cheerfully. Everyone groaned.

"Shut it Sirius. You know we all had to put up with that pun since you turned 6." Regulus complained while Cissy nodded her agreement, "It's getting old." he added. Sirius pouted but stayed quiet.

 **"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"**

"Yup!" James was positively delighted that his son was on the team.

 **Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.**

 **"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."**

"Your right I couldn't." Charlie nodded grinning at Harry who grinned back.

 **Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.**

 **"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly.**

 **"Wood's the captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.**

 **"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light - speedy - we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor - a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."**

 **"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin,"**

"Oh, don't say that, Minnie!" Sirius groaned getting over his brother's words.

 **"I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..."**

 **Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.**

 **"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you." Then she suddenly smiled.**

"And that's rare." James commented making Minerva glare at him.

"Well I need to make sure the student's don't think I'm a pushover." she said. "Especially the troublemakers."

 **"Your father would have been proud," she said.**

"I am!" James said. Harry beamed.

 **"He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."**

"Yes he was - is!" corrected Sirius at James's glare.

 **It was dinner time. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak-and-kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it. "Seeker?" he said. "But first-years never - you must be the youngest house player in about -"**

 **"- a century," said Harry, shovelling pie in his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. "Wood told me." Ron was so amazed, so impressed; he just sat and gaped at Harry. "I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."**

"Yeah, like that'll last long in Hogwarts." Lily snorted.

 **Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry and hurried over.**

 **"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too - Beaters."**

"Yeah. You two seem like beater material." said Sirius.

"Yeah. We're destructive even without the bat, so just imagine what we can do with one!" George grinned.

"Just like us!" James said pointing to himself then Sirius, "Though I prefered chaser or seeker." he added.

 **"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."**

"Wow. And Wood hasn't even seen you play yet! Or Fly for that matter!" Sirius said.

 **"Anyway, we've got to go; Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passage way out of the school."**

"Bet we already know it!" said James.

 **"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week."**

"Wow, that was fast we didn't find that one until our third week when we were runniing away from Filch." Sirius said.

"We were doing the same." Fred admitted.

 **Fred and George hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.**

 **"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"**

"Never." Harry said cheerfully.

 **"You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly.**

 **There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle,**

"True." Remus said. "They weren't all that bright either." he added.

 **but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.**

"Ooh, scary! Not!" the twins said.

 **"I'd take you on any time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"**

 **"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling round. "I'm his second, who's yours?"**

"Thanks for making up my mind for me Ron." Harry said sarcastically.

"Sorry mate."

 **Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.**

"They're both big, ugly and stupid." Regulus commented.

 **"Crabbe,"**

"Ah, the biggest, ugliest and stupidest!" Sirius exclaimed.

 **he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."**

 **When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other. "What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"**

 **"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie. Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "but people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."**

"I did." Draco admitted.

 **"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"**

"Throw it away and punch him on the nose." said Sirius wisely.

"Speaking from experience, are we?" asked Andy.

"'Course!" he said cheerfully.

 **"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," suggested Ron.**

They all laughed at the similarity.

"Alright everyone I think we will take a break now." Harry said getting nod's from everyone. "We will continue in an hour." he added as everyone got up and seperated to do their own thing. The women, except Hermione and Ginny who stayed with Ron and Harry, went to the kitchen to make some lunch and some of the men went outside to streach their legs and the others just sat and talked.


End file.
